Seeing that Ryoma Aburame had regained consciousness, Danzo's expression wavered slightly.
He forced a stiff smile at Gisei Shiraishi. "Thank you."
Thank me for what? Thank me for not killing you and even saving your sorry ass?
Gisei's forehead was covered in black lines of frustration. He must have met a fake Danzo, or maybe he was caught in a genjutsu.
Danzo, do you realize your entire character setting has collapsed?
After the rescue, the atmosphere turned serious.
The Third Hokage looked at Danzo, his face filled with unstoppable anger. "Danzo, you must give me..."
Before the Third could even finish his sentence, Danzo closed his eyes, tilted his head to the side, and promptly fainted.
The Third: "..."
Not knowing how to vent the anger building up in his chest, he had no choice but to turn his gaze back to Gisei.
Gisei stared back at the Third with a dark expression.
"Gisei, I'm counting on you!"
The Hokage bowed his head to him again.
Gisei felt as if he had swallowed a fly—bloated, uncomfortable, and more than a little nauseous.
In the end, he still treated Danzo's injuries.
Soon enough, Danzo "woke up" again.
The Third couldn't say much more at this point, so he simply nodded to Gisei and led his people back toward Konoha.
Gisei scratched his head, looking at Anna Takemoto and Aonobu Kawai standing behind him. "Why did you guys come here with the Third?"
To prevent Danzo from escaping, he had originally planned for the two of them to gather manpower and wait for his signal in Konoha. If the situation went south, he would use a ninja butterfly to notify Anna to bring reinforcements to intercept Danzo.
But everything had gone smoothly, and he hadn't sent any signal. So why did she and Aonobu appear here with so many people?
Anna looked confused. "Didn't you have someone notify us to come save you?"
Aonobu also wore a strange expression. "Lord Danzo was almost beaten to death by you... why would you be sending a distress signal?"
Gisei narrowed his eyes slightly. It seemed an insider wanted to take advantage of the situation.
Speaking of insiders, there were only him and the two people in front of him. And, of course, Orochimaru, who had passed along the intelligence.
Anna and Aonobu had no reason to do this. Was it Orochimaru?
What is that guy trying to pull?
Gisei thought for a moment and asked, "What about the other ninja clans?"
"They also seemed to have received the distress signal. They've all gathered at the Butterfly User Clan's compound."
Gisei looked thoughtful, nodded without saying much more, and led his group back to Konoha.
After Anna and Aonobu dismissed their own clan members, they followed Gisei back to his compound.
Before they even entered, Gisei heard Tsunade's savage, unreasonable shouting.
"Whoever dares to walk out of here is going against me! Don't blame my fists for being unreasonable!"
Gisei walked in with a dark face.
Tsunade and Orochimaru were blocking the exit of the compound with over a hundred people, arms crossed, staring coldly at the thousands of ninjas trapped inside.
The moment Gisei appeared, the eyes of over a dozen clan heads lit up, and they hurriedly rushed forward to greet him.
Tsunade turned to look at Gisei, her expression dark and foul.
"Quite the arrogance you have. Do you know that during the time you disappeared..."
Gisei interrupted her grumpily. "I don't want to waste words with you."
He looked past her to the dozen or so clan heads. "Dismiss everyone first. We'll talk later."
Orochimaru quietly watched Gisei giving orders, a profound look in his eyes.
Did this guy not fight with Danzo? Why are there no traces of battle on his body?
Gisei naturally noticed Orochimaru. He glanced at him but said nothing; there were too many people and too many eyes watching right now. It wasn't the time to talk.
About an hour later, everyone had been dismissed, and Tsunade and Orochimaru had left with their people.
Finally back in his own home, Gisei sat down with the clan heads.
"Tell me, how did you receive the message?"
"A clansman came to report the news, so we rushed over," Anna explained.
Aonobu nodded. "It was the same for me."
Almost all the ninja clans reported the same situation. After listening, Gisei fell silent, speechless.
What exactly is Orochimaru's game?
Did he think Gisei couldn't win against Danzo? Even if he didn't, there was no need to create such a huge commotion, right?
Unable to figure it out, Gisei could only put the question aside for now. He'd ask Orochimaru directly when they met alone.
"That guy Danzo took advantage of me being alone to ambush and assassinate me. I lured him outside the village and taught him a lesson, killing over a hundred of his subordinates. What does everyone think we should do next?"
After Gisei finished speaking, Aonobu smiled bitterly. "To be honest, your strength is astonishing. Even Lord Danzo was beaten by you like a dead dog. But... doesn't this deepen our conflict with the village even more?"
"This isn't our fault," Gisei countered. "Danzo attacked first; I only fought back in self-defense. I think we should demand an explanation from the Hokage."
"That's not good... Killing so many of Danzo's subordinates is already enough retribution."
"That's right, let's let Danzo off. He is the Hokage's assistant, after all."
Hearing these clan heads one after another asking him to let Danzo off the hook, Gisei was puzzled.
If it were in the past, shouldn't these guys be beating the drowning dog and taking the opportunity to squeeze out more benefits? Why had they all become so cowardly all of a sudden?
Seeing Gisei's confused expression, Anna coughed twice and whispered, "I heard the Third transferred the troops guarding the border back."
Gisei: "..."
So that's why these guys are acting like cowards?
Hokage's Office
Hiruzen Sarutobi and the two advisors looked expressionlessly at the disheveled Danzo.
Danzo looked like a mute who had been forced to eat bitter herbs—he had suffering he couldn't express.
The Third broke the silence. "Danzo, you must give me an explanation!"
Homura Mitokado chimed in, "Do you know how much harm your actions have caused to Konoha?!"
Koharu Utatane added, "Almost all the ninjas in the village were mobilized. Even the border troops were called back. I'm afraid everyone knows by now that the Hokage's assistant tried to assassinate a clan head. Do you have any idea how much trouble this will bring us?"
Danzo fell into deep thought.
No matter how you looked at it, he was in the wrong here. Leading Root to besiege Gisei Shiraishi—yes, he had selfish motives, but it was also out of public interest.
If Gisei didn't die, those ninja clans would band together to oppose the Hokage's policies, which was absolutely detrimental to Konoha. Moreover, Gisei's conduct was both radical and paranoid. If such a person wasn't eliminated, who knew what he would do next?
The fact that he didn't succeed this time didn't mean he would give up. Anyone harmful to Konoha must be eliminated.
But that was for later. Right now, he still had to figure out how to survive the current crisis.
"I received a secret report that someone was conducting forbidden research in the Forest of Death, so I sent people to monitor the area. I didn't expect to find Gisei Shiraishi waiting there."
The Third laughed in extreme anger. "Danzo! Who do you think you can fool with words like that? How can there be such a coincidence in this world?!"
Danzo's expression became serious, and he spoke with righteous conviction. "I believe both Gisei Shiraishi and I were set up. The only ones capable of orchestrating such a thing are spies from the Rain Village."
The Third: "..."